Sixers coach Jordan looking for a fight

EDDIE JORDAN insists that he doesn't get frustrated and never loses his patience.

We'll take him at his word, but the 76ers coach has said nothing about getting mad, livid or even incensed.

Following Monday night's embarrassing, 126-105 loss to the visiting Orlando Magic, the Sixers' sixth loss in eight games, Jordan pointed his fingers at his players with facial expressions that oozed frustration and impatience - along with anger and disbelief.

Jordan questioned their heart and desire and willingness to fight through a performance so poor that even one of his own players admitted after practice yesterday that the team "gave up a little bit."

While the story of the day surrounding the team was the anticipated announcement that guard Allen Iverson won't be returning for the rest of the season so he can continue to tend to his ill daughter, Jordan's anger from the Orlando loss was still as fresh as it had been hours earlier.

"I'm not frustrated," Jordan reiterated following yesterday's practice at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "I just try to get the best out of the team. It was disappointing that we didn't have that sort of . . . Somewhere along the line you've got to fight back. You have to have the spirit of fighting back. I don't care if you're getting killed by 40, you just can't have that. You can't have the same things repeat over and over again. The chair has been changed three times and it's the same lack of spirit. Somewhere along the line the players have to say, 'We've got to fight back.' That's what's disappointing."

Jordan was alluding to the team's last three games against the Magic, in which they've lost by an average of 20 points. That includes two games this season and the season-ending loss in Game 6 in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season, when Jordan wasn't employed by the team.

Monday's loss continued a disturbing late-season trend of blowout losses by the team. Five of the past six defeats have been of the double-digit variety, with three by 20 points or more. The only single-digit loss, strangely enough, was dealt by the defending champion Lakers in Los Angeles during a game in which the home team won by nine, though they mostly seemed uninterested.

If Jordan's players were upset by their coach questioning their heart, they did a good job of hiding it yesterday as they prepared for tonight's game in Atlanta against the Hawks.

"The message was clear," said guard Lou Williams. "We need to play better. We're not mad at coach for saying guys need to play better. That's the truth and I think we kind of got into a situation where we gave up a little bit [Monday] night. The season's far from over. Who knows what's going to happen. I've seen crazier things happen. We've just got to play this thing out to the last game."

That's about as believable as Jordan denying his frustration. Yesterday, he stood by his words following Monday's game, and he brought it up to his team again.

"I didn't call anyone in particular out," Jordan said. "When I talked about leadership, it went beyond leadership. I said for someone, just for someone, to bring some sort of spirit, some competitive spirit. It's not easy when they're [Magic] draining threes and they're playing that way and they're a very, very good team. They're a better team than we are. But, still, when you're getting your butt kicked you have to somehow bring some sort of confrontation back to them somehow, and they didn't do it."

As he spoke his voice rose, his body tensed. He seemed to be willing to fight the fight himself, but can't seem to find a way to get his team to do it.

Jordan is waiting for someone to prove himself as a leader, willing to show off some ability to fight through adversity.

"I just thought with the team that we played [Monday] night, with the history with that team, the results were very close to being the same way [as the previous two games]. And I mean with spirit that was lacking and the forcefulness and the ability to bring some sort of physical presence and respond to a good team when they're kicking your butt. It was the same sort of thing and somewhere along the line we all have to stand up and not take a beating anymore. Sort of move forward and do something different. It's almost like the same thing repeating itself, and I didn't want to have that."

He'll find out his club's response rather quickly, as after tonight's game against the 38-21 Hawks, the Sixers will host 37-21 Boston on Friday.

Forward Elton Brand did not travel with the team to Atlanta yesterday and will miss his second straight game with tendinitis in his right Achilles' tendon. Brand, who tore his left Achilles' two seasons ago, underwent an MRI, which revealed no structural damage. He is hoping to return to the lineup Friday against the Celtics.